Extreme One Eighties Headphone Review

You’ve probably heard of the brand Extreme from their super popular extreme sports television channel. In fact, they’re one of the biggest supporters of extreme sports in the world, just saying. They’re pretty big. Now combine that with a pair of headphones and you get some very interesting results. Introducing the Extreme One Eighties, an active noise-cancelling set of cans which don’t actually suck.

Now I’m always a bit dubious when it comes to products endorsed by companies that don’t usually come from a tech industry. But whether these are actually built by Extreme or are outsourced with a logo slapped on the side, it doesn’t matter, they work really well.

They come in three different designs, the Artist, Heritage and Blackout. The first two designs are discrete, which I found quite surprising. I was expecting some kind of garish design to hit me in the face when I opened the box, but they look good. They’re mostly a mixture of gloss and matte black, with a small design on the inside of the band. The Blackout version is all black.

The One Eighties fit really well. I could listen to music for long periods of time which was awesome. I usually get a bit of ear ache around the back of my lug holes but the cushions are very well padded. I suppose these headphones are aimed at your everyday extreme sportsman so they’re quite rugged. I’d be happy knowing that if I came off my skateboard they wouldn’t break right away if they hit the deck along with me.

But what’s a headphone if they sound bad? Thankfully, thanks to its Vortex Drive sound technology these headphones sound full, and very punchy. This can depend on the music you are listening to however. When I tried some dubstep, known for its huge bass sounds, the bass overpowered some of the higher frequencies. Although listening to punk and metal, they sounded great. There are three modes to choose from: off, which unfortunately makes the music sound flat; active noise cancelling which lets you switch off the noise of your surroundings, and Vortex, which gives the headphones a volume boost as well as some extra umph of bass.

The active noise cancellation, although works well, still left a minor hiss in each earphone. This wasn’t too noticeable when playing music at higher volumes, but at times I needed to keep them low, it was a bit distracting. Overall though, it worked well. Music isn’t meant to be played quietly. Damn library, hindering my inner audiophile!

The One Eighties rely on two AAA batteries to power on which lasted for the two weeks or so we spent testing them. A nice feature and also inclusion are the two removable auxiliary cables. One is very long and the other quite short. There is a foam carry case as well for when you’re storing the cans in a bag.

As I said before, these headphones are aimed at participants of extreme sports. They’re very competitively priced at around £149.99. You can find out more information, as well as the other designs on the Extreme Tuned website.